1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to flow cytometers and hematology analyzers, and, more particularly, to hematology analyzers that count and identify biological cells using light scattering and fluorescence techniques in an optical flow cell.
2. Discussion of the Art
Flow cytometry is a technique for counting, examining, and sorting microscopic particles suspended in a stream of fluid. Flow cytometry allows simultaneous, multiparametric analysis of the physical and/or biochemical characteristics of single cells flowing through an optical/electronic detection apparatus. When used in hematology analyzers, flow cytometry enables the precise counting of cells in a measured volume of blood or other biological fluid sample and the identification of those cells based on the use of light scattering and/or fluorescence detection. As used herein, the phrase “flow cytometry” refers to the techniques and apparatus used in flow cytometers as well as in flow-cytometry-based hematology analyzers and other diagnostic instruments.
In flow cytometry, a beam of light, such as, for example, laser light of a single wavelength, light of a broader spectral nature from a light-emitting diode (LED), or some other source of light, is directed onto a hydrodynamically focused stream of fluid. A number of detectors are aimed at the region where the stream passes through the light beam, one or more detectors being in line with the light beam and typically several detectors positioned perpendicular to the light beam. The detector(s) in line with the light beam detect forward scatter, in one or more angular annuli or regions, or absorption or albedo, or both forward scatter and absorption or albedo. The detectors positioned perpendicular to the light beam detect side scatter, fluorescence, or both side scatter and fluorescence. Each suspended particle passing through the beam scatters the light in some way, and fluorescent chemicals in the particle may be sufficiently excited to emit light at a longer wavelength than that of the light source. The combination of scattered and fluorescent light is detected by the detectors, and by analyzing fluctuations in intensity at each detector (typically one detector for each desired fluorescent emission band and one detector for each annulus or region of scattering angles), it is possible to determine various facts about the physical and biochemical structure of each individual particle. Forward scatter correlates with the volume of the cell and side scatter depends on the complexity of the particle, such as, for example, the shape of the nucleus, the amount and type of cytoplasmic granules or the roughness of the cellular membrane. Fluorescent markers can be conjugated with monoclonal antibodies that selectively bind to certain types of cells or cells in a particular pathological state. Representative examples of instruments employing flow cytometers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,017,497; 5,138,181; 5,350,695; 5,812,419; 5,939,326; 6,579,685; 6,618,143; and U.S. Patent Publication 2003/0143117 A1. These patents describe a flowing stream of cells and a stationary beam.
A subfield of cytometry, laser scanning cytometry (LSC), involves scanning a laser beam across a field of interrogation. However, the field of interrogation is stationary, typically a section of a microscope slide to which cells have been adhered, and the measurement rate (i.e., the number of cells analyzed in a given unit of time) obtainable through such a scheme is far below what can be obtained by conventional flow cytometry. Furthermore, LSC is an imaging method suitable for detailed analysis of a relatively limited number of cells, whereas flow cytometry is a light-scattering and fluorescence-tagging method of analyzing large quantities of cells. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,072,382, 5,523,207, and 6,002,788.) Two other techniques closely related to LSC are volumetric capillary cytometry (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,238) and microvolume LSC (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,603,537 and 6,687,395, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0280817). All of these techniques rely on a scanning laser beam impinging upon a specimen fixed to a controllable stage and on methods based on highly resolved imaging, confocal scanning, or spectroscopy techniques.
Several teachings in the prior art (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,083,014, 5,444,527, 5,521,699, 5,644,388, 5,824,269, 6,671,044, and 6,975,400, and U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2002/0146734 and 2002/0057432) describe an imaging flow cytometer that combines the flow characteristics of a conventional analyzer with imaging capabilities. In the prior art, (a) the laser or other light source is stationary, necessitating the use of a charge-coupled detector (CCD) array in order to capture information from across the field of interrogation; and (b) the information obtained is of an imaging nature rather than of a scattering nature. This approach causes the process to run significantly more slowly than in flow cytometry; in other words, in order to obtain more detailed information for each cell by the use of the disclosed imaging strategy, the measurement rate is reduced, i.e., the overall number of cells actually analyzed in a given unit of time is reduced.
One of the key advantages of imaging methods is that such methods are capable of capturing fine details of individual cells, which enable a trained professional to make positive identifications in borderline cases. However, the greater detail obtainable by imaging methods are balanced by the reduction in the total number of cells that can be analyzed in this way in a given period of time. In methods based on scattering, identification is based on characteristics that are averaged over the cell (such as cell size, hemoglobin content, lobularity of the nucleus, etc.); however, the loss of fine detail in individual cells is compensated for by the ability to collect desired information for tens of thousands of cells in a matter of seconds. Such information can be used to plot the results in aggregate according to a few characteristics (such as, for example, size, lobularity, etc.).
The CELL-DYN® Sapphire® hematology analyzer (commercially available from Abbott Laboratories), an instrument based in part on flow cytometry, processes a minimum of 105 complete blood count (CBC) samples per hour under standard conditions (This aspect of performance is referred to as the throughput of the instrument.). Other commercially available hematology analyzers are capable of processing up to 150 standard CBC samples per hour, although they usually result in higher rates of reflex testing, slide review, or both reflex testing and slide review. It would be desirable to increase the effective throughput of hematology analyzers (i.e., accounting for both the mechanical throughput and the rate of first-pass reportability) so as to be able to process a higher volume of standard CBC samples per hour than currently possible, while at the same time maintaining a low rate of reflex testing and slide review. This improvement would enable use of such an analyzer in a high-volume laboratory (reference laboratory or hospital core laboratory), which requires the processing of large numbers of standard, mainly normal, CBC samples per day with as few slide reviews as possible. It would also enable higher throughput of samples in any of the other laboratory environments where an analyzer is used.
There are several obstacles to higher throughput, such as, for example, loading samples, aspirating samples, dispensing samples, diluting samples, mixing samples, incubating samples, staging samples, delivering samples to the flow cell, and the time required for a sequential measurement of a series of samples. These obstacles can be thought of as bottlenecks, where the narrowest bottleneck determines the overall throughput of the instrument. The current narrowest bottleneck in the CELL-DYN® Sapphire® instrument is the time involved in the sequential measurements through the optical flow cell. The performance currently achieved involves a compromise between acceptable levels of coincidences, acceptable precision of results (total number of cells counted), constraints from the present hardware/electronics architecture, i.e., arrangement of hardware and electronic components, and constraints from the assay strategy involving reagents and dilution. As used herein, a “coincidence” is interpreted to mean an event where two or more cells, either of a similar type or a dissimilar type, are sufficiently close that they cannot be resolved by the instrument, are counted as one, and are misidentified in one or more detection parameters.
Increasing the flow rate through the flow cell by widening the sample stream, by increasing the velocity of the sample stream, or both of the foregoing, have all been attempted. In a conventional flow cytometer, where the sample stream is intersected by a stationary beam, the measurement rate in the linear regime (defined as the number of cells being analyzed per second, n) is given byn=ρxstreamzstreamvstream,  (Eq. 1)where ρ represents the concentration of cells in the sample stream, xstream represents the transverse dimension of the illuminated portion of the sample stream, zstream represents the longitudinal dimension of the illuminated portion of the sample stream, and vstream represents the flow velocity. In order to increase the measurement rate, one can attempt to increase any one of those four quantities. However, under the circumstances encountered in the state of the art, increasing ρ leads to greater coincidence events, as does increasing xstream and zstream. Increasing vstream can lead to risks related to the onset of turbulence or other kind of hydrodynamic instability, which can severely reduce the precision of the measurements, because the resulting sample stream oscillates or fluctuates unpredictably across a stationary light beam.
Other options include simply doubling the entire measurement hardware, with two sets of measurements occurring in parallel on separate flow cells interrogated by separate sources of light. Two sources of light can be employed or a single source of light can be split into two. The shortcomings of this approach are increased complexity, a greatly increased cost, a greatly increased risk to reliability because of the large number of additional components, and increased service costs.
It would be desirable to improve throughput of a flow cytometer without incurring higher coincidences, without degrading precision of results, without significantly changing the hardware and/or electronics (and consequently having to meet most of the same constraints), without changing the chemistries and dilutions currently in use, and while maintaining the currently available desirable attributes associated with a high rate of first-pass reportability of results.